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Nathan Ingram
| last = }} Nathan C. Ingram is the co-creator of the Machine along with Harold Finch, and the founder of IFT. Biography Prior to the Machine Ingram founded his company in 1994 (or possibly 1983 ) along with Harold Finch (known to him as Harold Wren), who disguised himself as an ordinary employee. At some point, Ingram gave Finch a photo of their younger selves, and wrote "In the beginning... -N.I." on its back. Finch kept the photo in a copy of Arthur Koestler's The Ghost in the Machine. Following the attack on the World Trade Center, Ingram was contacted by the government to build the Machine. Ingram acted as the public face of IFT and the man the government dealt with while Finch would covertly build the Machine. On June 10, 2002, following another ceremony, and after dismissing half of his company's staff, Ingram arrived at an abandoned office floor at the building, and discovered Finch's progress with the Machine. Supplied with the feeds from the NSA, the Machine could track and listen to all the citizens of New York. Finch told Ingram the next step would be teaching the Machine to pick out the terrorists from the general population. Working with the Machine In 2005, Ingram met with Alicia Corwin, a government worker who supplied the Machine's various feeds. Corwin requested information regarding the progress of the Machine, and Ingram handed her the social security number of a DIA agent. The agent was later found to have been in collusion with the Iranian government to sell weapons grade uranium. After meeting with Denton Weeks to discuss the fact that the Machine couldn't allow a human to track specific people, Weeks threatened to reduce the payment for the Machine. He was dismayed to find that Ingram was providing it for a miniscule one US dollar. Ingram later celebrated with Finch about the Machine's success in discovering a traitor and got a closer look at how the Machine operated. It was at this time that the Machine considered Ingram as the subject of a potential threat. Two years later, Ingram learned of the Machine's programming to ignore any "irrelevant" crimes: any attacks of a smaller scale than those that present a threat to the nation. Every night at midnight, the Machine would erase the list of potential crimes. Clearly disturbed by this piece of information, Ingram stood by as Finch stated that the Machine was not built to save "someone," but rather "everyone." In 2009, Ingram realized that the people who were to receive the Machine were not entirely trustworthy. During a meeting with Alicia Corwin, he accidentally let slip that eight people knew about the Machine rather than seven. Later, he tried to convince Finch to make a back door into the machine, only for Finch to refuse. Just prior to shipping the Machine, Ingram used his administrative access to install a new function named "contingency". After creating the back door, the Machine was relocated to its new home. Due to unknown causes, Ingram died in 2010. Post-Death A bust of Ingram's head was placed at IFT's lobby, recognizing him as "The Founder." Shortly after his death, an article was published on the News on 10 website. While under the influence of ecstasy, Finch appeared to believe that his accomplice, John Reese, was in fact Ingram. When wishing him goodnight, Finch referred to Reese as "Nathan." Trivia *Ingram's social security number is XXX-XX-1860 *In the casting call for the role of Ingram, he is described as *Ingram's portrayer Brett Cullen and Michael Emerson (Finch) appeared together on Lost as members of The Others. Emerson's Benjamin Linus was jealous of Cullen's Goodwin Stanhope, and sent him on a mission that led to his death. *Other than the bust in the IFT lobby, the Machine states his year of birth as 1956 (1956/6/16 in Freeport, TX). Brett Cullen was born August 26, 1956 in Houston, TX. *At the end of , when Reese refused to take advantage of Finch's state to satisfy his curiosity, Reese says good night and walks away, Finch replies "Good night, Nathan". *So far, two characters have referred to Nathan in the present tense while speaking to Finch. *Root said, "You may have fooled Nathan, but I know the truth." *Denton Weeks said, “You. I know you. You work with Nathan Ingram.” Ingram Ingram Ingram Ingram